Hungary

The first Tokaji aszú wine (wine produced from dried/raisined grapes as a result of Botrytis infection) was created in the 1600s perhaps by accident — a harvest delayed by threat of enemy invasion. In 1700, Tokaj became the first European region to have its vineyards classified — its uniquely varied terroirs and climates rated “primae classis, secundae classis, tertius classis,” or “first growth, second growth, third growth,” by Prince Rakoczi II of Transylvania. This classification system is still used in Hungary today.

Quality production ended with the Communist Party takeover of Hungarian winemaking. Aszú grapes were used for mass production in factories, with vineyard distinctions lost in giant tanks. Tokaj’s renaissance began after the collapse of communism with the establishment of Royal Tokaji in 1990 by well-known author Hugh Johnson and a small group of investors, who were inspired to restore and preserve Hungary’s precious wine legacy.

  • The Royal Tokaji Company

    The Royal Tokaji Wine Company was established in 1989 in the village of Mád in the Tokaji region and is a joint venture 63 local growers led by Istvan Szepsy, who was a descendant of the legendary Mate Szepsy, and foreign investors, among those, the celebrated wine author Hugh Johnson. Hugh has put all his effort into preserving the unique values of the Tokaji region to create high quality Aszú wines and pioneered the production of Single Vineyard wines. Today, The Royal Tokaji Company has become one of the most famous wineries in Tokaji.

    During 2009, on the eve of their 20th anniversary, the Royal Tokaji winery has undergone a metamorphosis which combines the best of tradition with the best of 21st century technology.

    By contrast, in their vineyards and cellars the age old traditions of making Tokaji wines remain unchanged.  The rotten, raisin-like Aszú berries are selected and picked one by one from bunches of grapes hanging on the vines in late autumn into wooden tubs known as “puttonyos”.  A “puttonyo” holds 20 kilos of Aszú grapes and is used as the standard measure of the final sweetness in Tokaji wines. The wines are created in a unique two-stage process which gives them their magical combination of luscious richness and sensual acidity.

    The intensely sweet juice gradually oozes from piles of Aszú berries and is added to small oak “gonci” casks filled with base wine of the previous year.  This mixture is repeatedly stirred for two or more days to extract the maximum flavour and sugar from the Aszú paste and then left to ferment gently in Royal Tokaji’s deep, dark, damp underground cellars, a transformation which may take one or two years. Legally Tokaji Aszú wines must be aged for a minimum of three years, but Royal Tokaji prefer to set their own higher standards.

    Essencia wines are made from the viscous honey-like Aszú juice only, and are fermented in the underground cellars in glass jars, a transformation which can take more than six years due to a combination of the extremely cold atmosphere and intensely high sugar level in the grape juice.

    Royal Tokaji owns a unique combination of first- and second-growth vineyards that have always been privately owned, including one of the two great first growths: Mézes Mály. At one time, first-growth vineyards Betsek and Szt. Tamás were owned by Prince Rakoczi I. His vineyards were sold in the late 1660s to save the prince, who was involved in a conspiracy that would have otherwise cost him his life. His son, Prince Rakoczi II, was able to buy back the prized land in the 1700s. Three centuries later, these vineyards continue to be highly valued.